Calvin Aquino, senior HCM consultant describes an iterative approach to delivering SAP on-premise HCM functionality.
Usually projects follow an ASAP or similar methodology with requirements defined and signed off up front, followed by build, test, etc. This project had a fixed timeframe, fixed budget and clearly defined outcome – a working Proof of Concept that reflected a mature process view and provided a foundation for ongoing refinement.
The customer, Australia Post, engaged Extend Technologies consulting services to work on this project in conjunction with its existing internal project team and framework. Extend Technologies is one of a number of preferred suppliers used by Australia Post for engagements of this type with this being the third project in the HR area that Extend have been involved with.
Background
Australia Post has a large SAP HR footprint and is currently working on a number of HRIS projects and initiatives. It also has the Nakisa organisation visualisation modules in use in the business. Implementing components of SAP Talent Management at this stage of SAP’s HR product set evolution, in light of the SuccessFactors acquisition, has also informed the approach being taken.
Australia Post – Hire to Retire Program
Australia Post delivered its foundation SAP HR solution, “HRenabled” in August 2010 and is currently embarking on the Hire to Retire (H2R) program of work. Australia Post decided to implement Talent Management as a separate project within the Hire to Retire roadmap, within the larger Learning & Development (L&D) scope.
The framework for this project was:
• Use standard functionality
• Leverage the work done to date within the L&D workstream
• Take into account other ‘in-flight’ projects
• Fit within the existing technical landscape (versioning for ERP, Portal, etc)
• Use of an iterative, collaborative approach between business SMEs and external consulting partner
• A close collaboration with key business stakeholders to define and deliver a working solution in a fixed time frame, for a fixed budget
• Deliver a working ‘Proof of Concept’ solution that would facilitate the refinement of business requirements to be delivered prior to a wider release to end users
The objective of the Talent Management project was to deliver a Proof of Concept (POC) that would facilitate the business to have a clear understanding of the standard SAP solution and identify refinements that would be required prior to a wider release of the process to end users in release 2.
The list of the key business processes to be enabled by the POC included:
• Leadership competency / potential assessment
• Links to appraisal grades
• Succession planning (including charts)
• Reporting (including 9-box grid representation)
• Talent profiling
The POC roll out included the following SAP functions and processes:
Business Benefits
Some of the targeted business benefits of the POC included:
• Early implementation of technology to support Talent Management capability
• Leverages configuration being put in place for the LMS solution – improved ROI
• Future leadership initiative – better identify future leaders and track successors to key roles
• Provides an opportunity to improve integration of the design for data collection, management and usage across the H2R capability solution covering Talent, L&D, Performance and Recruitment
Talent Management “Proof of Concept”- The Project
As consultants, we typically do not see a lot of SAP Talent Management implementation projects despite the fact that business success is widely acknowledged to be directly related to an organisation’s ability to manage these processes well. Common reasons for not using Talent Management system tools are company size (“we are too small to need this functionality”) and readiness (“we don’t have mature processes in this area”). Typically, organisations feel that once they have implemented Performance Management (PM) and Enterprise Compensation Management (ECM) they are where they need to be. The ‘readiness’ theme is the reason most often given.
In terms of this project, the business stakeholders had a clear idea of the required functionality outcomes and had a detailed roadmap in place. What was needed was an understanding of the standard SAP functionality and how close this was to the stakeholders’ vision. However, it is notable that the iterative project approach used successfully here for that purpose, can also be adopted by organisations which feel that they are not ready for Talent Management and are looking to fast track their talent management process design.
The overall approach is simple: break things down into phases. Each phase delivers business benefits and prepares the organisation to take Talent Management to another level.
The initial phase was a Proof of Concept (POC) restricted to standard SAP Talent Management functions. Taking this approach enabled the business to crystallise its system requirements by looking at delivered, out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality, while still getting benefits of putting in a system where previously there wasn’t one. It is groundbreaking to say the least – not because of the technical design or solution – but because it rapidly confirms business readiness for progressing to the next level of process improvement / refinement. One of the key reasons for success was the ability of both the Australia Post Solution Architect and Extend Consultant to work closely with the business users to ensure clear, consistent expectations around delivery and standard approach.
Engagement Approach
The project plan indicated that the build phase should be completed 3 weeks from the project kick off. To meet this timeline, an iterative ‘gather requirements and build’ approach was taken. After understanding the business requirements for a particular area, system configuration was carried out over a couple of days and capped by a ‘playback’ session where a system demonstration and requirements confirmation was made. Identified gaps were used to fine tune the configuration / design. This iterative approach worked well in two ways: by allowing a rapid build of standard process functionality to match the vision of the stakeholders in a series of discovery sessions as the build progressed; and also provided those stakeholders with the opportunity to think about their processes and how they could make improvements based on what system functionality was available to them.
The traditional blueprinting phase approach (where full requirements need to be signed off before build begins) would have likely disadvantaged the project because either the standard could not meet the requirements or because the requirements would have changed after the blueprint, too late in the project timeframe available. Remember this was a phased approach and more detailed fine tuning will happen in subsequent phases! Two points of interest to note here: this type of approach is similar to Rapid Deployment Solution (RDS) delivery as well as the SuccessFactors methodology – both of which are predicated upon businesses adopting the provided solution and adjusting it, more than ‘build from scratch’.
Technical and Functional Information
Implemented in the POC are standard Talent Management functions as delivered in the Enterprise Portal and backend ECC6 EhP5 system. This type of implementation mainly required skills in core Talent Management. However, due to the technical requirements of the standard applications, skills and knowledge in Embedded Search, TREX, Basis, Security / Authorisation, and some ABAP (mainly for BAdIs and WebDynpro ABAP Component Configuration) were key to the implementation success.
Talent Review Meeting Calibration Out-of-the-Box
The POC was intended to be a straight ‘out-of-the-box’ implementation, but there were a few hiccups which required some adjustments to be made. These included:
• Embedded Search (a key component used in Talent Management applications) – we had a few challenges in this area including one where all index data was lost each morning. This was resolved by applying a couple of SAP Notes and adjusting merge_delta settings. An upgrade of the TREX to the latest version was also recommended.
• The delivered Talent Management Specialist role had too much access in some areas while lacking the required authorisation on other objects
From a design point of view, perhaps the most significant deviation from OOTB was for the Talent Assessments function. This application is only delivered in the Manager Self Service (MSS) business package and is not included in the Talent Management Specialist (TMS) role. However, due to the business requirements as well as the phased approach for implementation, what was needed was to enable the TMS to enter the talent assessments through the TMS portal role. This is one area that SAP could address in its standard offering.
To provide a better user experience than having to switch to backend transactions (PHAP_CREATE or PHAP_ADMIN), we added the Talent Assessment application from MSS into the TMS role for Potential, Risk, and Strengths talent assessments.
Talent Assessment in the TMS Role
OADP settings were configured to enable the TMS to see employees / talents under his / her area of responsibility. We also rolled out backend admin transactions for performance appraisals to align with processes in place since Australia Post implemented Performance Appraisals last year.
As succession planning functions are not available in the TMS business package, these were enabled through backend transactions as well.
This was the sum total of the functionality delivered within the Australia Post Talent Management project.
SAP Talent Management – If I Rated It on a 9-Box Grid!
As outlined earlier, the implementation of this functionality, especially using the approach outlined and within the timeframe available, is a rare occurrence. So what could this mean for other SAP HR users out there who are thinking about making improvements in this area?
If I were asked to plot SAP Talent Management performance / potential on its own 9-box grid, where would it sit? On its own, it probably won’t be getting the highest rankings especially when ‘calibrated’ with other talent management solution offerings. It loses a few points for user interface / experience and perhaps a few more points in terms of functional flexibility. Reporting capabilities (without SAP Business Warehouse) are also limited. On the up side, its integration with core SAP HCM modules is obviously a strength for SAP ERP users.
But as most would know, there are complementary products that would improve SAP’s score. First is the SAP Talent Visualization by Nakisa (STVN) which is the on-premise solution extension of choice (based on a Statement of Direction released in April 2012) and the other is SuccessFactors Succession and Development which will be the go-forward product for Succession Management. STVN and SuccessFactors Succession and Development provide enhanced user experience while maintaining high degree of integration with SAP ERP HCM and other SuccessFactors Talent Management products, respectively. The details for these three product options, as well as the so-called ‘hybrid’ solutions incorporating some or all of these, will certainly be hot topics which we will cover in coming posts.
For more information please contact an Extend SAP HCM expert on 02 8908 4200 or contact@extendtec.com.au
